


It's Not Me, It's You

by morganskye



Category: Ghostbusters (Comics), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Moving On, One-Sided Attraction, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 07:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20862821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganskye/pseuds/morganskye
Summary: For years Janine has tried to win Egon's heart, and for year's she's gotten nothing for her efforts. It was a futile effort and she knew it, but what else could she do? Then Roger came along...A quick one-shot of how Roger and Janine met.





	It's Not Me, It's You

Hair? Makeup? Clothes? No, he wasn’t that concerned about physical appearance, and she already knew she was the standard definition of pretty. Voice? Maybe...A Brooklyn accent wasn’t exactly melodic. Attitude? It must be that, but how to change when this is how she’d been all of her life? If someone had three words to describe Janine Melnitz, they would be loud, bossy, and dedicated. You had to be all three to last as the Ghostbusters’ secretary, office manager, A/R, A/P, HR...hell  _ everything _ . So if she was pretty and smart and skilled, why couldn’t she get the attention of the man who had stolen her heart just by nodding hello? It should have been a walk in the park. It always had been before...

Egon made her feel like she was in high school again, but not always in the good way. At first she liked how she got tingles in her stomach when he walked by or made eye contact. Now she wanted them gone. She hated how he could trap her with just a word or look, but what she hated more was how she knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose. Egon Spengler was many things, but needlessly cruel wasn’t one of them. He would never play mind games...well, yes he would but not like that. Not with her. He may not love her (and at this rate never would), but he respected her. Could that be enough? Respect didn’t kiss you goodnight or take you on a drive through the country, but it did make her heart hurt a little less. 

She’d been trying to talk herself down off the Edge of Egon for years. She didn’t like how her mind would fritz when he was around. Professionalism was a point of pride, but that all was chucked out the window if a chance to get Egon’s attention presented itself. Some of the things she’d done still made her feel like a giant fool. She might as well have just hopped on his lap naked...wait, would that work?

Shaking her head to bring herself to the present, Janine sipped her coffee and forced herself to mentally walk away from Egon...again.

“Ah, excuse me?” 

She looked up, startled out of her thoughts, to see an attractive blonde man standing a few feet away. He was giving her a quiet, confident smile as he pushed up his small round glasses. When she didn’t answer he spoke again.

“I noticed you from across the cafe. I hope you don’t think I’m being overly-bold, but I just had to tell you that your hair has caught the afternoon light in a way that makes me think of the Autumn Blaze maple tree that grew outside of my childhood home.”

Janine blinked a few times, not sure how to answer that. Was he hitting on her? Was he being weird? He didn’t seem creepy, just different. When she didn't respond he took it as a bad sign.

“Ah, I’ve disturbed you. I’m sorry.”

He turned to move away, but she stopped him. 

“Wait, don’t go? Sorry I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s fine. I could use the company to be honest.”

The man smiled and sat across from her at the small table. 

“My name’s Roger.”

“Janine...so, ‘Autumn Blaze maple’? That’s a new pick up line.”

He blushed. “I wasn’t trying to do that...but...did it work?” he asked with a hopeful look.

She smirked. “It scored you a seat at my table. You’re just going to have to keep being charming if you want something involving dinner.”

Roger’s eyes lit up like he’d won the lottery. “I should warn you, I’m a Professor of Literature. I know many love sonnets by heart.”

Janine chuckled while silently praying he could be the one to break the cycle and help her finally forget _him_.


End file.
